Page 59 of Fourth Wall

“Ew, feet gross me out,” I responded, which only made him lick them. I wriggled them out of his touch. This felt fucking perfect. The atmosphere was a calmness I don’t think I have ever felt. It was the perfect thing after coming down from such a high.

“Christian.” I spoke, but the words stuck in my throat. Fuck, I was going to start crying again. I could feel my chest constricting as the tears formed in my eyes, for no other reason than just being so overwhelmed with an emotion that I couldn’t put a word to yet. It was how I felt when I was around him, though.

“Shh, I know, firecracker.” He motioned for me to turn around. “Come here.” I turned and leaned back so that he could wrap me up in a hug. Slowly, he began to pour water over my shoulders as his hands rubbed every aching muscle. I moaned again. Between the warmth of his skin and the water, I was in heaven all over again.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“That little noise when you're enjoying something. You’re going to make me hard again, and I cannot seem to control myself around you.” We stayed there, and I leaned all the way into the little crook of his neck, where I fit perfectly.

After a bit, I was exhausted, cleaned, and my earlier restlessness was completely gone.

I toweled off, and Christian stopped me when I turned around to grab pajamas from my room.

“Wait, I have something for you.” He went into his room and grabbed me one of his shirts, which would surely be a dress on me.

“Wear this.” I lifted it to me and pressed it to my nose. I inhaled the familiar scent of pine and summertime bonfires. I slipped the shirt over my head and wrapped myself up in a hug. Perfect was too cheesy of a word to describe how I felt right now. Serene, maybe?

I hesitated, my gaze shifting between the two rooms from the bathroom, feeling caught in a moment of indecision. Christian stood in the doorway of his room, an expression of longing mixed with a hint of desolation on his face. It was as if he couldn't bear the thought of me not following him.

"Are you coming?" he asked, giving me a choice. I could retreat to my own room, seek solace in the familiar routine of sleep, or I could take a leap and spend the rest of the night with him.

"I want you with me," he added, his words echoing my unspoken thoughts.

It was as if he could decipher the turmoil within me. I didn't want to make a choice that would only deepen the unease between us, making tomorrow morning even more awkward. Yet something inside me screamed to go with him. This felt right, so why fight it? Tomorrow would always come, and we would deal with it then. With a sense of surrender, I mustered a simple response, "Okay.” And obediently followed him into his room.

I settled into the spot where I had lain when I snuck in, but he had different plans. Christian slid in beside me, drawing me closer until my back was nestled against his chest. His embrace wrapped around me like a warm, comforting blanket, enveloping me in his entirety.

"Perfect," he murmured, the word seeping into my consciousness as I surrendered to the embrace of slumber. Atthat moment, everything felt perfect. Every aspect of him, even his imperfections, contributed to a sense of completeness I had never experienced before.

30

Christian

I woke before anyone else in the house as the morning light filtered into my room. Maeve was sprawled out over me, her arms wrapped around my forearm as if she was somehow holding on to me for dear life. I looked over at her and watched the way her beautiful blond hair lay along the pillow. I lovedseeing her in my bed. It was as if she belonged there all along. The way her chest moved up and down as the morning light slowly filtered in.

Something happened last night, and I couldn’t quite explain it. I’d had sex with quite a few women in my days and tasted a lot of pussy, but the way Maeve felt against my lips was like I took a bite of the sweetest fruit. She tasted like heaven and matched me in every single way. Most women were usually surprised or turned off by dirty talk, but she leaned into it. She was the puzzle piece that I was missing sexually, and now I think I would obsess over the way she felt.

“Mommy?” I heard softly as Kelsie opened her mom’s door. I quietly let Maeve sleep in and closed the door behind me slowly.

“Is my mommy in your room?” the little girl asked me as she grabbed her blanket and lifted it up to her nose to sniff it. Maeve had already warned me that both girls smelled their blankets as a comfort thing.

“Yup. She…couldn’t sleep last night so she slept with me. I hope that’s okay with you?” I was winging it when talking with these girls, but I think I was doing a decent job in situations like this.

“That’s fine with me. Can I have pancakes?”

I picked the little girl up, grabbed her sister, and went downstairs, where I started to pull out the ingredients I remember Maeve using yesterday, along with the help of a recipe I googled for basic pancakes. God, just the way the batter dripped off her lips almost made me crazed for her again, but I focused on the task at hand here.

“Girls, does Mommy let you put extra chocolate chips in your pancakes?” They both looked at each other in a clear “no” but then looked up at me with the same innocent, sweet eyes that Maeve had and said yes in unison.

I laughed and poured a few chips into the batter. I flipped a few pancakes over and had to give myself credit for how these looked. They weren’t too burnt. I threw a few on a plate with syrup and all the other fixin’s. I turned off the stove and was about to call the girls to the table.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Shit. It was Sunday. This meant that…

“Daddy!” Tyler was coming over to pick the girls up this morning. I looked down at the gray joggers and the sleeveless shirt I threw on. I looked like most people did on Sunday mornings, but I bet the fucker would look like he was going to a board meeting. Tyler and I, looks-wise, were two very different people. He was clean cut, and I had long hair, a man bun, and was covered in tattoos.

I walked over to the door with the two girls as I heard Maeve upstairs walking down the spiral staircase. She had a hoodie on and a pair of black leggings. Her hair was in a wildly messy bun, and she had that freshly fucked look plastered all over her face. When she looked down and saw me, she smiled and shook her head.

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